


Closing the Book on the Past

by AncientCovenants



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:20:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26570578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AncientCovenants/pseuds/AncientCovenants
Summary: Alex had come when he’d asked him to that night at the Pony.This time, Alex hadn’t asked him, but he was going to be there anyways. Because he wanted to be the type of person that was there for his friends and family and complicated love interests whether they’d asked him in words or not.
Relationships: Michael Guerin & Alex Manes
Kudos: 31





	Closing the Book on the Past

The church was packed like it had been for Noah’s funeral. He idly wondered where all the people came from, and whether they were here to mourn or celebrate the passing of Jesse Manes.

His eyes scanned the crowd, searching until they found who they were looking for.

_There…_

He made his way to the front of the church.

There were more people in the front, but he somehow managed to find a seat in the pew right across the aisle from where the youngest Manes sat, the eldest on his far side, Valenti on the other.

Alex was the reason he was here.

The night he’d found out Sanders was the boy that knew his mother, he could barely even string together a thought, heart and mind racing at millions of miles per minute. Then Isobel had left because of a “twin thing” and Sanders— _Walt_ had gone home and he was left floundering in the wind.

So he’d called the one person he knew would ground him.

Alex.

And he’d come.

Simply because he’d asked him to.

No questions, no conditions, just… them.

He never did tell him just how much that night meant to him, probably never would, but he wanted to do that, to _be_ that for him, just as much as Alex was for him.

Alex hadn’t asked him to come. He knew Michael’s history with Jesse Manes better than anyone. He knew Alex wouldn’t fault him for not coming to the funeral of a man that had hurt them both—as well as the ones they loved—in so many ways…

But he also knew that being strong for others _all the time_ was exhausting. He’d hidden how tired he was behind anger and cynicism, biting words to push people away when he could barely stand himself to just take a moment and breathe.

Now Alex was being strong for Greg. And their little makeshift family still saw him as the main support beam that held up the roof. Alex was invaluable but he wondered if the others thought of him as such because of what he could do for them or simply because of who he was.

Alex was _everything_.

And while he was busy holding Greg together, he and Kyle were still trying figure out how to be the friends they once were. Maria was in the hospital and he knew Alex didn’t want to burden her when she was still supposed to be healing.

But he could see the wear in the corners of his eyes, where his smile didn’t quite reach. He could see the slight slump in his shoulders from the invisible load that he carried on everyone else’s behalf. He could see the grimace of pain when he pushed himself too hard and forgot to take care of himself.

And he wanted to help.

Somehow, _someway_ , he wanted to ease the pain, help carry the burden, and put that brilliant, beautiful smile back on his face.

No, Alex hadn’t asked him to come. But he wanted Alex to know that he wasn’t alone. That there was someone else out there that knew the truth of Jesse Manes. That there was someone who was there for him, _only him_ , and not to dance on his father’s grave or call him a hero.

He wanted to be there for Alex the way Alex had been there for him. Not because he owed him, but because Alex had showed him that was what family— _real family_ —did.

Alex was family.

And he was going to stop pushing his family away.

* * *

“I didn’t think he’d show up.”

Alex furrowed his brow at the statement from Kyle, glancing over at him.

“Who?”

Kyle simply tilted his head as he faced the front of the church where the service was about to begin.

He looked past him, scanning the faces for the anomaly in attendance.

Michael met his gaze from the pew across from his and nodded.

He’d come.

He didn’t need to, he’d been there when he’d died, watched as his life ebbed away before their eyes…

He didn’t need to be in a place where half the people thought Jesse Manes was a hero to be lauded.

Which meant…

He’d come for _him_.

It was a show of kindness and solidarity that Alex thought he had long since forgotten.

But here he was, ten years older, yet still the same thoughtful, caring, kind and loyal person he’d fallen in love with.

Tears didn’t fall but they did start to gather as he nodded back.

_He came._

His blood buzzed with renewed energy, reinvigorated as he sat back in the pew.

It was like a weight he didn’t know he was carrying was suddenly lifted, back straighter than before. The dull ache he’d had in his leg recently had suddenly been all but forgotten.

He wasn’t alone.

All this time he’d been so lost, trying to throw himself into work and dismantling his father’s operation to keep Michael and his family safe.

He knew he could talk about it with Kyle but Kyle wouldn’t ever fully understand the horrors he’d faced as a stranger in his father’s world. Because that’s what he was. He wasn’t one of Jesse’s soldiers and he’d made it clear he didn’t think of him as one of his sons…

He was a stranger, an outcast, an alien in some else’s world.

An invader.

An enemy.

No wonder his father hated him.

And that didn’t make it right, but he _understood_ now.

And he could let go.

He could finally close the book on his past and start a new one.

Perhaps one set in the present and, when that one was done, he could finally begin the book of his future…

He could see it now.

The shape of it, just out of reach.

And he was almost there.

Reaching out into the ether for all the endless possibilities he never thought could have ever been meant for him, ones filled with hope and love…

It was beautiful.

And this time, when he thought of the future, he wasn’t _alone_.


End file.
